Rowan's Birthday Album....4th birthday

At last!  Grandma has caught up on sweet little Rowan's birthday layouts...at least until August 1st when he turns 5.  Now on to his sister Lily's birthday pages.  I'm hereby resolving never to get this behind again.  I'm actually having fun with these.  I thought I'd be fiending to make cards, but I've found cards can be fitted in between layouts and while making random cards for challenges and so on is fun, at the end of the day, the scrapbooks are what will endure and be treasured.   Here is Rowan's 4th birthday celebration pages.

My Mind's Eye Boy Crazy with a little Echo Park All About a Boy thrown in.
MS train edge punch, SRM stickers, Cricut

Hope you're all having a  great weekend!

Hugs,

Kathy

More Catching up....I feel so productive!

Christmas Album 2011 spread finished.  Hard one to do because we had hoped my Mom would be celebrating it with us.  Sadly she passed in November, so it was a bit of a bittersweet Christmas.  I actually put some photos of ME in this one (even though I hate photos of myself).  I've lost nearly 70 pounds since these photos were taken so there's a bit of comfort in that.

My little pups cornered a rattlesnake in the backyard yesterday and gave me a fright.  Luckily, they didn't get bitten and the snake made his escape back into the desert.  One of the bonuses of living out in the country.

Can you believe it's almost May?!?  Yayyyy Spring!

Hugs, 

Kathy

Catching Up...

I'm shamefully behind on milestone pages for my grandchildren's albums so I have resolved to catchup!  My sweet handsome little Rowan man will be 5 (can't believe it) in August, so here are his 2nd and 3rd birthday spreads.  Just one more to finish before August for him. Then on to Lily's missing birthdays.

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.  The weather is perfect here just north of the Valley of the Sun, there are so many mama quail and their trails of babies everywhere.  The birds are so noisy, I had to turn up the volume on my radio, and the cactus blooms are starting to appear.  I love this time of year.

  

Hugs to you all,

Kathy

Celebrating here

I posted some time ago that I was doing some volunteer work for Arizonans on their Children's Life Book project.  It's a wonderful program where displaced kids who have been in foster care long term are given their very own Life Book (scrapbook) created by a volunteer who researches the child's family and history and chronicles their lives in a positive, nurturing way.  I've been working for months creating two books for a 5 year old little girl and her 3 year old brother, and just completed them.  There will be a presentation party next Wednesday with refreshments and sharing.   These are 12"x12" albums with 33 layouts each and I'm very pleased with the way they've turned out.  Because of privacy issues, I'm not able to share.   Cool thing is that my scrapbook juices are flowing again and I've already completed a double layout for my geneaology album.  Thought I'd share.  Now I've got to catch up on some birthday and Christmas pages that have been neglected far too long.  I've missed sharing and it's frustrating I can't share these Life Book pages with you...but what a good  cause.

That's 4 year old me on the bench  down there.

Oh!  I've also lost 60 pounds since I posted last.  Yay me!

Hugs,

Kathy

Merry Christmas from Arizona

My dear friend Wendy, "Mrs. B" and her hubby visited us in November and she used her photography skills to take this family photo, which became our Christmas card photo.  It's not the entire family, just the Arizona clan.  We are so blessed to have my daughters, April and Allison and grandchildren, Lily and Rowan living nearby.  All of Steve's family is in Texas so opportunities for visits are limited.  We hope all of you enjoyed the holidays and are looking forward to a productive, crafty New Year!

Hugs & best wishes,

Kathy & Family

Reflections on a spring without cherry blossoms ...

For almost as long as I can remember, the stairs of our childhood home were shaded by a lanky flowering cherry tree, planted by my Grandma just to the right of the staircase.  Every spring, without fail, its branches would burst forth, unasked into a symphony of silken, ivory-pink blossoms which would cover the tree for a few weeks and then fall to blanket the lawn and stairs.  My folks were definitely not gardeners of any sort, but they did love this tree...especially Mom.  Dad simply refused to prune it....it grew wild , unfertilized and free but continued to grace us with its gorgeous spring display (prettiest on our entire block) year after year anyway.  As we kids grew up, we became fairly oblivious to its annual offering, but in time grandkids in their childish delight reminded us of how its pretty spring blossoms resembled popcorn. 

Now that both the folks are gone and the house will eventually be home to a new family, I hadn't thought of that old tree for a long time until this week when I received the monthly bill from the gardener who tends the lawns and gardens there until the house is sold.  He writes that the tree has died.  He has removed a few branches already, but wants me to know that he needs to take it down before winter storms come. 

I have been melancholy all week reminiscing about home and all the love and lessons learned there.  I sometimes took for granted the scraggly cherry tree that each spring transformed a rather simple home with such beauty, and how bare and lonely the house will look with it gone.  I couldn't help but think it's almost as if the tree realized we weren't coming home and its job was done.  Another passing. 

My mom on the front porch in 2002, flowering cherry on the right. 

Family, please feel free to leave a comment with your memories of the cherry tree or home in general.  I think it might be therapeutic. 

Test Run

Moppet, my Maltese, has been an only child now for a long time and our next door neighbor, a groomer, showed up with this sweet little Yorkie girl who is homeless as a result of a divorce.  We're going to see how she does here.  Isn't she adorable?!  Her name is Bella.....for now anyway.  Just had to share.